At issue is the patent by Myriad Genetics to genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) that it found correlate with increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. This test was recently made famous by Angelina Jolie who had a preventive double mastectomy after taking the Myriad test (which costs more than $3000). The company has been trying to stop other companies from offering the test at a lower cost.
Thomas drew a bright line that “A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated.” Despite the ruling of the Federal Circuit (which has been in a series of sharp disagreement with the Supreme Court over the scope of patents, Thomas saw the question in simple terms: “It is undisputed that Myriad did not create or alter any of the genetic information encoded in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.”
Notably, the Court acknowledged that the company “found an important and useful gene, but separating that gene from its surrounding genetic material is not an act of invention. Groundbreaking, innovative, or even brilliant discovery does not by itself satisfy the [patent law] inquiry.” There was interest in how the Court would define the applicability of patent law to synthesized DNA, or “complementary DNA,” or cDNA. Yet in a footnote the Court expressly stated that it was not ruling or indicating that even cDNA is specifically entitled to a composition patent.
We have been following the increasingly draconian copyright and trademark laws used against citizens and companies — laws secured by an army of lobbyists, lawyers, and an obedient Congress and White House.
This specific patent issue is different but raises many of overall issues. The Court has been pushing back on the expansion of patent law into areas considered part of the “law of nature.” What is key about this decision is that it is based on 35 U. S. C. §101. This has been in the past treated as a highly generalized provision that does not seriously narrow the scope of patents. It was the later section that has been used to narrow the scope until now. This creates a threshold determination on patents that a wide array of academic and public interest groups have long advocated.
Here is the decision: Myriad Decision